Corruption in Swedish municipalities and regions is considered to be widespread – but many corruption crimes are never discovered.</strong

Now the police’s National Anti-Corruption Group (NKG) wants to see a change in the law that makes it mandatory for municipalities and regions to report all suspected cases of corruption to the police.

In government operations, managers must currently report all suspicions of corruption-related crime to the police – but this requirement does not currently exist for either municipalities or regions, which means that the police are not aware of the crime, and thus cannot investigate it.

– It is important to receive reports of suspected corruption from the entire public sector. Today, we estimate that there is a large number of unreported cases in both municipal and regional activities, says Natali Engstam Phalén, a lawyer at the national anti-corruption group.

NKG points out that most of the public sector’s corruption-sensitive activities are found in the municipalities and regions, and it can, for example, be about grants being paid out even though the recipient is not entitled to the money, or that permits and public procurement are granted on the wrong grounds.

The healthcare sector is identified as particularly susceptible to corruption, and the police point out that organized crime is keen to take over all activities that can feed the criminal economy.

Employees are bought out

– It is important that the same rules apply to the entire public sector in terms of how to deal with corruption offenses. It is not reasonable that municipalities and regions do not report all suspicions of corruption to the police. The damage caused by corruption is the same whether it occurs in local, regional or central government. Ultimately, it is about the public’s confidence in public activities and how taxpayers’ money is spent, continues Engstam Phalén.

It notes that between 2023 and 2024, only 107 corruption offenses were reported to the NCG – and that only 15 of these came from Swedish municipalities and regions.

– This is worrying given that so many corruption-sensitive activities are carried out at municipal and regional level. Often, suspicions of corruption are dealt with under labor law by buying out employees. The risk is then that the person can continue their criminality in other public workplaces, the lawyer notes.

The group now wants to see a change in the law whereby those responsible at Sweden’s municipalities and regions are obliged to report all suspected corruption – and it believes that legislators should be able to use the regulations that already exist and apply to government activities.

– This would send a clear signal about the importance of vigorously fighting corruption across the public sector. We also believe that it would have a crime-preventing effect while bringing more people to justice, concludes Natali Engstram Phalén.